The invention is directed to the field of telephony, and more particularly, wireless telephony, such as cellular telephones.
Wireless telephones are increasing in popularity. In some cultures, such as the global business culture, virtually everyone has a wireless telephone. It is common to be involved in a business meeting and hear the ring of a wireless telephone, at which time the recipient of the incoming telephone call excuses herself and answers the incoming telephone call. When she completes the incoming telephone call, perhaps by simply telling the incoming caller that she will call the incoming caller back in a few moments at a convenient time, the recipient of the incoming call returns to the meeting. However, the incoming call has a negative effect on the on-going meeting, in that it causes a temporary interruption and delay in the progress of the meeting. If such interruptions occur frequently, or at inopportune times, they can be very disruptive to the meeting and annoy the participants.
The recipient of the incoming call may alternatively elect not to answer the incoming call, so as to keep the interruption of the on-going meeting to a minimum. Typically, the incoming call will then be forwarded to a central voicemail system and the incoming caller will be given the opportunity to leave a message. This alternative is not perfect, in that the incoming call may still ring on the recipient""s telephone for a predetermined number (i.e., 4) of times, so that the meeting is still disturbed, and the incoming caller is inconvenienced in that he now is limited to leaving a voicemail message. Further, this option may cause the recipient to miss an important telephone call.
A system is needed whereby a wireless telephone user can minimize the inconvenience to an incoming caller, while also minimizing the disruptive effect that an incoming call has on an on-going meeting.
In one embodiment according to the invention, a telephone includes an answer and hold feature, whereby, in response to a user input, the telephone answers an incoming call, issues an outgoing greeting and maintains a connection status. Thus, the called party can unobtrusively cause the call to be held in the connected status until a time when the called party can conveniently enter into a conversation.
For example, a wireless telephone according to the invention may include a controller, a user input unit, and an outgoing message unit. The controller may be adapted to cause the outgoing message unit to output a particular outgoing message in response to an incoming call and a particular indication from the user input unit. The controller may be further adapted to maintain a connection status of the incoming call so that a user can communicate at a point in time subsequent to the initiation of the outgoing message.
In another embodiment according to the invention, a method of handling an incoming call in a wireless telephone includes the steps of providing an indication of the incoming call, receiving a particular user input, outputting a particular outgoing message in response to the particular user input, and maintaining a connection status of the incoming call.